Fish Tank Tops

The two parts are usually connected using nylon bolts and nuts. On most models, water overflows into the waterfall cup from the water surface in the aquarium. A siphon tube delivers water from the waterfall cup inside the tank, over the side of the aquarium, and into the prefilter box. The water then passes through a sponge prefilter element, and feeds via gravity, into the filter below the aquarium. Some hang-on prefilters are of the "continuous-siphon" type. These prefilters actually have a built-in channel which allows the water to travel over the side of the tank without us

These systems call for chemical filtrants, more vigorous circulation/aeration, and other mechanisms to reduce water chemistry fluctuations.

Size:

Even though Im only 5 7", bigger is better (!) in aquarium sizing. Like ocean-size volumes, humungous tanks dont change much very quickly; in part because of dilution, and temperature -wise due to tank wall thickness.

Livestock:

What kinds of life youre keeping touches directly on the issue of the type of system filtrat

Heres my take on the most common paths.

Rationale: Who Are These Guys, Why Do I have To Know About Them?

A short version of the story: Fish and invertebrate livestock produce ammonia (NH3) as their principal excretory product This material is unfortunately quite toxic to them and its too expensive, inconvenient to remove it by dilution, chemical filtration. Happily, there is a group of microbes/bacteria tha

Glass (fused bead) types are superior in that they produce bubbles of uniform size (optimum is about 1 mm in diameter), do not clog easily, may be readily cleaned and re-used and dont break. Ceramic/sand, plastic wand varieties are worse for the opposite reasons.

Regarding "wood" mechanical diffusers; these are suitable for air-driven protein skimmers only; the fine bubbles they produce for a while are dangerous to livestock, known to cause embolism and other environmental gas- diseases. My strong recommendation is to utilize a separate dedicat

What the? The tanks cloudy from the gravel/decor? Not a big deal, give it time and it will clear up just fine. Are you ready? Power it all up and stand back. Beautiful.

Test Kits, Bacteria & Testing Your Patience:

What happens next? That universal ingredient, time needs to go by; a few days for certain chemical reactions, funky stuff in the tap-water to precipitate, stabilization of pH... and then:

Bacteria. Youll hear no end of ways to go about introducing and establishing oh-so necessary bio-filtration micro-organisms. Certain species are utilized for "cycling" or converting noxious metabolites into les

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I am starting a new tank now. www.fu.